There are tenants still in place at the Temple of Peace. The crypt is powerful and moving and open to the public - website has details. It is also a reverse Tardis in that it is quite small on the inside and wholly unsuitable for museum and heritage use without a few hundred gra d spent on access.

It will work well for the University as the Crypt and Library are excellent and fits with a wider preservation angle the University has.

I've been in there and agree that it is quite small - hence the requirement for a sympathetic extension on the North Rd side. I am playing fantasy development here by the way. But in any event I'm not sure why, with said extension, it would be wholly unsuitable for heritage or museum usage. Scrub the Natural History Museum fantasy - what about a gallery for Impressionism or for modern art generally?

Not sure what the 'wider preervation' angle the University has. I would assume that they are purchasing the building to utilise it for teaching or administration rather than as a gift for the public so I don't know how this will enhance access to anyone other than students or university staff?

The wider point I'm making is that Cardiff's most impressive architectural area has effectively been colonised by students and civil servants and the whole civic centre - other than the museum and the gardens fronting it - is very sterile. In my view a shame

Karl wrote: The wider point I'm making is that Cardiff's most impressive architectural area has effectively been colonised by students and civil servants and the whole civic centre - other than the museum and the gardens fronting it - is very sterile. In my view a shame

I agree with you about the sterility but I think that's down to the absolute ban on commercial uses for the buildings rather than the expansion of the Univesity. They've only taken over two buildings after all namely the old Glamorgan County Hall and now the Temple of Peace. All of the other buildings they own have always been occupied by various educational institutions.

Using the ToP as a museum annex isn't a bad idea but seeing as Amgueddfa Cymru have been around for the best part of a century and have yet to complete the National Museum's quadrangle it seems an unlikely prospect.

What might make a real diffence to the atmosphere is to stop treating our civic centre as a glorified car park. The members car park at the front of city hall, the cars parking spaces north of Gorsedd Gardens and the car park in the University quad are shocking and should go. Personally I'd ban parking in KEVII Avenue and Museum Avenue as well.

Karl wrote:Not sure what the 'wider preervation' angle the University has. I would assume that they are purchasing the building to utilise it for teaching or administration rather than as a gift for the public so I don't know how this will enhance access to anyone other than students or university staff?

The wider point I'm making is that Cardiff's most impressive architectural area has effectively been colonised by students and civil servants and the whole civic centre - other than the museum and the gardens fronting it - is very sterile. In my view a shame

From the article it seems that they can't use much of it for Uni activity as the tenants are there to stay. One of the tenant charities point out in the article that they are merely 80 years into a 1,000 years lease!

Looks like Maindy Rd is starting in earnest. A few diggers on site and the ubiquitous wooden fence is going up. The train journey in from the north will be quite impressive should the new Cathays developments come off.